Collapsible fish landing net



Oct. 25, 1949. E. J. SCHREIBER ET AL. 2,435,78E

COLLAPSIBLE FISH LANDING NET Filed June 18, 1948 IN V EN T ORS romeo J. sones/55e, 4L so/v A z.. vaarweg/,1540,

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Patented Oct. 25, 1949 UNITED STATES AT COLLAPSIBLE FISH LANDING NET Edward J. Schreiber and Alson L. Weatherhead, Willimantic, Conn.

Application June 18, 1948, Serial No. 33,844

4 Claims. 1

This invention relates to sh landing nets and more particularly to a collapsible net which may be folded up for ease in transportation.

It is among the objects oi the invention to provide an improved sh landing net of simplied construction having a minimum number of simple parts, which net folds automatically into a compact form when not in use and is easily held and unfolded or expanded by one hand when in use, which will not fold or collapse until manually released, which may be attached to the clothing of the user so that it cannot be lost or mislaid, which, when expanded, is oi ample size for the intended purpose, and which is economical to manufacture, durable in use, of extremely light weight and neat and .attractive in appearance.

Other objects and advantages will become ap parent from a consideration of the following description and the appended claims in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein:

Figure l is a top plan View of a net illustrative of the invention in expanded or unfolded position;

Figure 2 is a side elevation of the net illustrated in Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a top plan view of the net in folded or collapsed position;`

Fig-ure 4 is a transverse cross section on an enlarged scale taken substantially on the line ll-ll of Figure l; and

Figure 5 is a plan view of a fargmentary portion of the net showing a structural detail.

With continued reference to the drawing, the net comprises, in general, a handle I0, a frame side arm II rigidly secured to the handle, a frame side arm I2 pivotally secured to the handle, a stretchable, resilient strand I3 interconnected between the ends of the arms II and I2 remote from the handle IU, a net M secured at its edges to the frame side arms I and II and the flexible strand I3, and a hook I swivelly connected to the end oi the handle opposite the end from which the frame side arms I0 and II extend, for attaching the landing net to the clothing of a person using the net.

The handle I is an elongated body of wood or other suitable material, having straight, substantially parallel side edges, one square end, and a rounded end I I to which the hook I5 is swivelly attached.

The frame side arm II is formed of a bar of suitable metal, such as steel and has a fiat, rectangular cross sectional shape and substantially straight end portions disposed in spaced apart, substantially parallel planes, with an intermediate portion Il interconnecting said end portions and inclined relative thereto. The longer end portion I8 lies along one side edge of the handle Ill and has a length substantially equal to the length of the handle. This end portion is provided with spaced apart apertures which receive respective rivets I9 which rivets also extend through transverseapertures provided in the handle to secure the frame side arm I I rigidly to the handle. The outer end portion 2@ of the frame side arm II is provided near its outer end with an aperture through which the strand I3 extends, the end of the strand being knotted, as indicated at 2|, at the outer side of the arm so that it cannot be pulled through the aperture from the inner side oi the frame arm.

The arm I I extends outwardly from the square end of the handle and diverges outwardly away from the longitudinal center line of the handle, as clearly illustrated in Figures l and 3.

The frame side arm I2 is of substantially the same shape as the arm II and has two substantially straight end portions 22 and 23 connected by a straight intermediate portion 2li which is inclined relative toboth of the end portions. The end portion 22 of arm I2 is twisted to a position at right angles to the corresponding intermediate portion 24 and is provided near the corresponding end of the intermediate portion with an aperture through which a suitable pivot pin, provided as a rivet 25, extends to pivotally secure the arm I2 to the handle lll near the end of the handle from which the arms extend. The outer end portion 23 of frame arm I2 is provided near its outer end with an aperture through which the corresponding end of the flexible strand I3 extends, the strand being knotted at the outer sides of the frame arm, as indicated at `2t, so that it cannot be pulled inwardly through the arm.

The net I4 is secured along its edges to the frame side arms II and I2 and the ilexible strand I3 by a suitable lacing cord 21 and is collapsible and expandible as the frame arm I2 is swung toward and away from the opposed frame arm II.

The frame arm I2 is provided on its end adjacent the pivot pin 25 with an upstanding thumb rest 26 which may be conveniently provided by diagonally bending up an outer corner of the end portion 22 of this frame arm.

With this arrangement and with the handle gripped in the hand of a user, suicient pressure may be applied by the thumb of the same hand against the thumb rest 28 to swing the pivoted frame arm I2 about the pivot pin 25 from the net collapsing position, illustrated in Figure 3 and indicated in broken lines in Figure l, to its net expanding position, illustrated in full lines in Figure l. When the thumb pressure on thumb rest 28 is released the stretchable, ilexible strand I3 tends to move the pivoted arm I2 toward the rigidly secured arm II in a net collapsing direction. This elort of the exible strand however is restrained by frictional engagement of the end portion 22 of the arm I2 with the end portion I8 of the arm II until this frictional engagement is manually released.

The surface of the end vportion 22 of arm II opposite the surface from which the thumb rest 28 extends is provided with a diagonal groove 29, as clearly illustrated in Figure 5. The end portion I8 of arm II has its edge adjacent the side of the handle Il) upon which the` arm I2Y is pivotally mounted extending slightly above the corresponding surface of the handle so tha-t this upper edge of the end portion I8 of arm II- engages in the grooves 29 of arm I2 when arm I2 is moved completely to its net expanding position, this frictional engagement between arms II and I2 being illustrated in detail in Figure 4. When itis desired to collapse the net a slight upward pressure is applied tothe outer end of the portion 22' of arm i2 torelease the corresponding edge of the portion I8 of arm II from the groove 29 whereupon the stretchable strand I3 will contract, moving the pivotally mounted armv I2 from the full line position illustrated in Figure 1 tothe position illustrated in Figure 3.

The net is of small size, convenient to handle in landing sh in y casting shing, and the handle is of a length and size to provide a convenient and comfortable grip. rIhe distance between the pivot pin 25 and the thumb rest 28 of arm I2 is sufficient to provide ample leverage for swinging arm I 2 against the force of flexible strand I3 from the net collapsing to the net expanding position of the pivotally mounted arm.

When the landing net is collapsed, as illustrated in Figure 3, it provides a small compact package which is easyy to carry in position suspended from the clothing of the sherman without interfering with the movements of the fisherman or tending to catch irr brush and other obstructions through which the fisherman must pass and; when expanded, is of ample size for the purpose intended. When the frame is completely expanded the net illis of substantially triangular shape and hasy a wide, substantially straight outer end, which may be easily inserteda under a nsh and the lexiblestrand at the outer end of the net greatly facilitates this operation as it will pass easily over rocksI or other obstructions which may be encounteredV in the act of getting a hooked sh into the landing net.

The invention may be` embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof. The present embodiment is therefore to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, thescope of the invention being indicated by the appended claims rather than by the foregoing description, and allchanges which come withinthe meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are therefore intended to be embraced, therein.

What is claimed is:

l. A iishk landing net comprising a handle having substantially parallel side'edges, a side frame, arm having end portions disposed in spacedapart,A substantially parallel planes and an intermediate portion inclined relative to bothl end portions, one of said end portions being rigidly secured tosaid handle along one side edge of the latter so that said arm extends from one end of said handle and'` said intermediate portion diverges outwardly away from the center line of said handle.. a second side frame arm having end portions and ani intermediate portion inclined relative to both; end portions, means adjacent one end of said from said first-mentioned arm, a stretchable resilient strand connected between the ends of said arms remote from saidv handle, a net secured at its edges to said arms and said strand, and an upstanding thumb rest on said o-ne end of said secondv armfor moving said second arm away from said first-mentioned arm to stretch said ISG verging from said handle away from each other,

a thumb rest on said pivotally secured arm for swinging it away from said rigidly secured arm, a stretchable resilient. strand connected between the ends of said arms remote from said handle to resiliently urge said pivotallyy secured arm toward said rigidly secured arm, and a net connected at its edges to said arms andi said strand. 3. A collapsible fish landing net comprising a handle, a pair of side frame arms, one arm rigidlyy secure-d and the other arm pivotally secured to said handle near corresponding ends and extending outwardly from said handle, said arms diverg' stretchable resilient strand connected between the ends of said arms remote from said handle to resiliently urge said pivotally secured armtoward said/rigidly secured arm, and a net connected at its edges to said arms and said strand, said piv-v Y. otally secured arm being movable away from said ing from said handle away from each other, a

second arm pivotally connecting said second armi i to said handle nearA said one end of the latter` so that said second arm divergesoutwardly away.;

thumb rest on said pivotally secured arm for swinging it away from saidy rigidly secured arm9 a stretchafble resilient strand connected between the ends of said arms remote from said handle to resiliently urge-said pivotally secured arm toward said rigidly secured arm, anda net connected atv its edges to said arms and said strand, said arms comprising elongated bars of fiat, rectangular, cross-sectional shape with substantially parallel front end portions and: converging rear end portions, each armhaving a substantially straight intermediate portion inclined relative to both end portions thereof, and said last-mentionedv end portions having different angular rela-tions, respectively to their intermediate portions.

EDWARD J. SCHREIBER. ALSON L. WEATHERHEAD.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the le of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Loomis et al May 23, 1916v 

